The Record: Double indignation

IT'S BAD enough that the outgoing Cliffside Park police chief is departing with an estimated $262,000 payout. What's worse is that the borough tried to keep it a secret.

The Record had to go to court to gain access to the terminal leave agreement between the borough and departing Police Chief Donald Keane. A superior court judge ruled on Feb. 28 that the agreement must be made public, and he admonished borough officials for refusing to do so.

Sadly for taxpayers, the chief's severance package is not all that remarkable. It is fully in line with payouts to retiring police chiefs and other officials that we have seen in many other North Jersey towns. Keane's payout, which came about after he sued the borough claiming his power was being usurped, includes compensation for retroactive raises and unused off-days, including sick and vacation time.

These payouts stem from longstanding government policy that permits employees to bank sometimes unlimited amounts of unused time and collect a big check upon departure. Some municipalities cap such awards, but others do not. The payouts are at times so huge that some municipalities have had to borrow money to pay them. The state should step in and end the payouts throughout New Jersey. Sick time is to be used when you are sick. Vacation pay is justified when an employee is on vacation.

Defenders of the current system often say retiring employees deserve to be compensated for not taking that much time off during their careers. While that argument may be worth debating, what is definitely not at issue is that the public should know about the payouts police chiefs, or for that matter any employees, are getting.

The Record went to court only after Cliffside Park officials denied many requests for copies of Keane's payout agreement and related documents under the state's Open Public Records Act. Borough officials claimed the settlement agreement was a personnel record. They said they also feared Keane would sue the borough for violating his privacy if they made the agreement public.

That argument overlooked Keane's status as a public employee getting paid by the taxpayers. The public has a right to know how tax money is being spent.

In ruling on the case, Judge Peter E. Doyne in state Superior Court, Hackensack, said that the borough "is not allowed [to] operate under a cloud of darkness and label the documents as personnel records simply to prevent its disclosure."